Age of Apocalypse: Diversionary Tactics

[x-eidolon.livejournal.com]

After the blackbird is landed on the East Bank, Essex leads the group towards his old lab. But the approach of Apocalypse’s horsemen force them to split up.



New York City was just a huge pile of rubble – an abandoned battlefield that had been laid to waste – a sickening trophy of Apocalypse, and a reminder of how much had been destroyed and lost. Stores and homes had been looted in the aftermath, and the distinct smell of rot and burning flesh still lingered in the air. It was difficult to tell if there was any life left about, but even that was highly unlikely.

The small group carefully navigated their way around fallen buildings and wrecked roads, once narrowly missing a full patrol of prelates. It seemed that the further the distance they covered, the tighter the security was, leaving behind the slimmest of chances that they would reach their destination undetected.

“You weren’t kidding when you said it was in the middle of the shitstorm were you?” Rachel commented, a hand around Essex’s arm as she helped him up and over a roadblock of debris.

"To be fair, when I worked here, it was quite a lovely area. There was an excellent bistro on the corner that Elizabeth and I used to visit often." His words were calm, but the pain was evident behind them. He'd lost his wife in order to get them to this point, operating numb in order to make her sacrifice count.

Molly stayed quiet, but she was listening, and looking around. She never thought buildings and cities could be dead since they were not alive to begin with but that was the only word she could think of seeing all the rubble. All the things that she remembered from before were all twisted and wrecked and gone. And now the lady they saw before with the purple hair, the lady who was the man's wife, was gone too. She just saw her and she was gone and not alive either. It wasn't fair. Bad guys were not supposed to win.

Angelo was sticking close to Molly's side, her self-appointed protector, and studying the wreckage in quiet horror. "I think I recognize this area too. Sort of."

A sharp gesture from Rachel called them to a halt, one fist raised in the universal signal for them to shut up, stop and listen.

An unbidden feeling of dread had started to creep down her spine; the telltale feeling of fear and detestation that heralded the arrival of doomsday. A quick and rough mental sweep of the area only confirmed her beliefs and she turned to face the people behind her with a sombre face and urgent words.

“We’ve been detected. Three Horsemen incoming.” Rachel shook her head to allay any immediate questions they obviously wanted to raise, and latched on to the mindlink Haller had set up for them. #We can’t pull off a retreat now. We’ll just have to make a break for it. I’ll bring the Professor to the lab…# The redhead frowned, glancing at the direction in which the horsemen were. #I don’t know where the fourth is. For now, pair off, spread out and delay their approach. Divert their attention away from the tunnels if possible. But if they overwhelm you, don’t push it. Fall back towards us – I’ll leave a trail for you to follow.#

The obvious apprehension in her mental touch stilled Jim's potential protests. From the impressions leaking into his mind there was little time to waste on arguments. Fuck. It looked like Molly would be seeing action after all.

#Understood,# the telepath confirmed. Informed in part by Rachel's instincts and his own half-remembered habits, he turned to Remy. #Gambit, strategy?#

"Here's where things get interesting. Wanda, I want you on de front of de point, try and disrupt dem from linking up. Sam, you in de air. Pick a target, Wanda peels off de support and we hit dem hard enough to try and roll dem back for de moment. Haller, I want roadblocks; give us places to fall back to. Dat's what we do - hit dem, fall back, hit dem again. We get bogged down and dey'll just swamp us. Keep Molly to de back, but when dey threaten, I want her to be de anvil we drive dem against. Her strength and invulnerability buys us time, so I don't want anything thinking of her as a kid. Anything less, and we all get killed here."

"And remember," Wanda said quietly, "that we are not the people that filled this world before. As I said to Remy and Haller, they might very well be expecting us to act in one way - take advantage of that. Surprise them enough to let us hit them hard and we will be able to get the upper hand."

After taking a quick look around to ensure everyone was ready - well, as ready as they could be in the circumstances - Sam nodded. "Well, here goes nothin'."

With that he took to the skies as per Remy's orders. He knew the loudness and brightness of his powers would quickly draw the attention of their attackers so there was no sense in doing anything but a head-on assault. Besides, that was not something he'd normally do, so it would hopefully be the last thing they'd expect. He kept an eye out for the first enemy to come into his crosshairs and that'd be who he'd target.

#And whatever you do, stay alive for me to send you home. Please.#

With one last, long and unreadable look, the redhead enclosed herself and Essex in a telekinetic shield that glowed blue and shot forward and away.